The Cut Ribbon
by Soccer-Bitch
Summary: With Bella dead by James' hand, The Cullen family feared for Edward's mental state. Deciding to move and make a new start elsewhere, they stumble across a girl, desperate for someone to believe in her.
1. Chapter 1

Date: December 19, 2008

Title: The Cut Ribbon

Author: Soccer-Bitch

Chapter: 1 of?

Rating: M (for language and adult situations)

Warnings: Some Strong Language and sexual situations

Feedback: All opinions are welcome!

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight. I just own my characters. No money is being made off this.

Summary: With Bella dead by James' hand, The Cullen family feared for Edward's mental state. Deciding to move and make a new start elsewhere, they stumble across a girl, desperate for someone to believe in her.

Chapter One

The days went by and then the months and then a year. For the Cullen's it wasn't what they had hoped for. Who would wish something so awful upon someone in their family? A year had gone by since Edward Cullen had fallen in love with Bella Swan and it was his fault that she was dead. The others didn't believe so, but he knew it was so. He blamed himself. He didn't get to her fast enough. He shouldn't have ever left her in the first place.

By the time Edward had gotten to the ballet studio, his love was dead. It wasn't something he was prepared to see. But the fact that she had told him not to avenge her death, that she was willing to die for him and his family, made the entire Cullen family take a step back. Alice and Jasper felt badly, for letting her get away from them in the airport, but Edward didn't blame them. He didn't blame anyone but himself.

He told her that he would protect her, but he didn't and now he had to live with her death on his hands. Her blood was on his hands. But he would avenge her death. Even if it took the eternity that they would have spent together. He would see that James wouldn't get away with killing his love. He wouldn't let James and his mate go around free while Bella was buried in the ground in the cemetery in Forks, Washington.

That day in the field, James picked the wrong prey to go after. It wasn't his first and he might have more skills in tracking then Bella did, but he would find him and he wouldn't let him get away with murdering his Bella.

They family had agreed upon moving. It would be as if they never existed in Forks. But this time Alice foresaw that they would be meeting someone important that Edward would have to learn to trust if he wanted to catch James. The person would play a vital role in something, she wasn't sure what, but it would have to do with James. And this time she wouldn't be the new girl, it was her town that they were coming into. Astoria, Oregon was going to be the next home for the Cullen family. But how long they would last, they couldn't be sure.

Packing up the Cullen household didn't take all that long. Esme had taken things to the new house earlier so there wasn't too much to take when it was time for them to pack things up. The new house was slightly larger then the one that they had now, but Esme loved it and with Carlisle's approval the house was bought and Esme started decorating. With everything ready to go, some had already left. Emmett drove his jeep and Rosalie drove her M3, but the others were waiting. Waiting for Edward to come back.

Edward had gone to his and Bella's spot. The meadow was where he took her on their first date before taking her to meet a house full of vampires. When he showed her what he really was and she didn't care. She didn't care that he was a monster. But he was. He didn't want to be a monster, but there was nothing else he could do. He looked around. It felt so long ago that he smelled her scent.

From the open window in Chief Swan's house, Edward was able to get into Bella's room. Just like he had done on so many occasions before. Most of the time she had no idea he was there, but he love to watch her sleep. Swiftly, Edward made his way over to the dresser on the other side of the room and went straight for the jewelry box that he knew was there. He opened it up, and a sad smile came to his features. It has a dancing ballerina inside it. He grabbed what he wanted. The necklace that he had seen her wear on so many occasions. As he turned to leave, he stopped in his tracks. It was a strong scent. It smelled just like her. When he turned his head, he saw the hair tie that she had been wearing at the baseball field, before the nomadic vampires had shown up. He also grabbed it and headed back to the window and jumped out before running back to the house.

When he did return to the empty house he wasn't empty handed. He had a necklace she wore and the hair tie around his wrist. It was something for him to remind himself of why he was doing what it was that he was doing. He had to find justice for her. When Edward looked at the house he had a solemn look upon his face. Too many memories in this town and even in this house. He looked towards the remaining cars in the driveway of the soon to be empty Cullen manor, and noticed that the rest of his family had been outside waiting on him to get back so that they could go.

"Edward," Carlisle said making Edward stop in his tracks on the way to his Volvo. "You need to stop blaming yourself for Bella's death,"

"It was my fault. I should have never brought her to the field to begin with," Edward said solemnly. His shoulders were squared and his body was as stiff as a plank of wood.

"It wouldn't have mattered," Alice spoke up from next to Jasper. "He would have found her scent one way or another,"

"And you didn't see that, before?" he snarled

Alice growled back at him before telling him the same thing she had been telling him for so long. "It's not an exact science Edward,"

"We can't rely solely on the visions, they help, but things will slip through. She isn't perfect," Esme said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "It's time to go, Edward,"

Edward nodded his head and went to his car. Esme and Carlisle went in his Mercedes. Alice and Jasper drove the Aston Martin. Even though the speedometer never went below eighty miles, it seemed like he wasn't gaining any distance for such a long time. It felt like days instead of just hours from the time that the Cullen's left Forks and arrived in Astoria, Oregon. When they arrived to the new place, they saw that Emmett's jeep was no where to be seen. It was probably parked inside the garage. Rosalie's M3 was in plain view from the drive way.

Edward parked his car on the right side of Rosalie's. The first thing he did when he got out of the Volvo, he looked to the sky. It was a cold day, just like many days in Forks. Edward pondered momentarily about what kind of game would be around this area. As the others pulled up into the driveway, Edward swiftly walked to the door and walked into the house and went straight to the room he knew was his. He was thankful that no one said anything to him. No one had to. He knew exactly what they were thinking. It was the same in the new Cullen household as it would be with any teenager that was starting a new school. It was decided that they weren't going to stay in this town for long, Esme and Carlisle suggested that they have their school records transferred from Forks to the new school.

Just like in Forks, they all rode to school in Edward's silver Volvo. It was just like any other new school. They made their way to the attendance office to get their schedules and maps of the school. And just like always there were stares from the current students at this school. But that wasn't anything new.

The person in attendance stared at them as if she didn't know what to do. That happened the last time on their first day of classes. The cold burst of wind made the advisor break out of whatever day dream she was having. She turned her attention to a young woman. She was the same height as Rosalie was. She had brown hair with golden blonde highlights and her eyes were forest green. She had a golden brown colored her complexion; it was a shade that was unique to only her. The Cullen's had never seen such a shade. She was wearing a pair of dark jeans; her coat reached her mid thigh, hiding her shirt. The chocolate brown suede contrasted nicely against the folded sheep wool cuffs and seams. The cold wind swirled around her, unable to penetrate through the buttons. Her mocha colored boots were suede and wedged heel. They had laces in the front and the wedges were two and a half inches.

"Miss Stone, don't you think you could make it on time to class?" the sneering voice came from the tall plump woman. Styled in a vintage bob, her chin length black hair was streaked with dignified silver. Stern, cold, grey eyes peered out from thick black framed glasses, pushing her annoyance of the one who caught her gaze with intense pressure. The tailored clothing emphasized her "Class" reminding most of the school of the rich kids around campus.

"If I had my schedule I might be able to," the teenager said throwing sass out like it was nothing new.

"Have a seat, Miss Stone. As well as you folks," the advisor said watching carefully as the teenagers went and sat in the sitting area of the office.

"Are you late often?" Alice asked looking at the girl who was going through her side bag looking for something.

"As often as I can without getting a Saturday school detention," she said with a smile. "And that is just the days I don't show up. It's always fun to ruffle the teachers' feathers,"

"Sounds fun," Emmett smirked from his seat beside Rosalie.

"Some get really red in the face," she laughed as she watched the advisor walk into the vice principals office and close the door. She knew this was gonna take a while. Those two hens gossiped worse then the gossip magazines did.

"I'm Alice Cullen," Alice said introducing herself to the girl with a smile upon her face.

"Kayden Stone," she said introducing herself.

"This is Jasper Hale his sister Rosalie; this is my brother Emmett and my other brother Edward," she said volunteering their names and pointing each of them out.

"So where are you from?" Kayden asked curiously as she played with her cell phone.

"A small town in Washington," Jasper spoke up.

Kayden had never lived in a small town, besides the one she was in now and half the time she didn't know how she could stand it. It was the same people day in and day out and nothing seemed to ever change. That is what annoyed her the most about this small town was although she had been here since her freshmen year, everyone still acted as if she had just come in. Well besides a few of the boys.

Before she could ask anything else, the advisor came back. It surprised Kayden how quick that went. But she was glad, because she did need to get to class. Sitting in the cold front office all day was not her cup of tea. Not at all, but it was better then sitting next to Scott Tanner in any class.

Kayden watched as one by one the Cullen's disappeared, until she was left alone with Alice. The girl reminded her of a friend she used to have back in California. But that seemed like a lifetime ago. When she had gone to California her friend had given her the cold shoulder, until she wanted some money. And Kayden couldn't believe how much her friend had changed in only a few years. But that was in the past now. She was brought out of her own day dream when the advisor turned her attention to her.

"What?" Kayden asked, not hearing what was said.

"I said that I'm giving you a pass to show Ms. Cullen here to her classes since we don't have anymore maps and her siblings are already gone," She wasn't very amused by Kayden's absent-mindedness. In her opinion Kayden wouldn't get very far in life.

The only thing on the high schoolers minds were the four new students. That was all that Kayden had to hear about. She had two classes with Alice, two with Edward, one with Jasper and also a separate class with each Rosalie and Emmett. It was weird how that was. She was fed up with the people at the school by the end of the day. I mean it wasn't like the Cullen's were all that different from everyone else besides the fact that they were new.

It was already a cold day and on her way to lunch; Kayden had to sneak out early. No one seemed to really notice, no one but Jasper. It was like he knew exactly what she had planned or at least had an idea of what she was doing. If he did know what she was doing, she was very happy that he didn't tell anyone. That would have been embarrassing.

When she got to the lunch room no one was there yet. That made her happy. She might have had friends throughout the school, but sometimes they gave her a headache. And she got enough of those as it was. She didn't need to add anymore to it. She only had one class left after lunch. It was history and Alice has pointed out that was the class she had with Emmett. The big guy looked friendly enough that she could borrow notes from him tomorrow. She had to get out of here as soon as the bell rang. She knew coming to school today was a big mistake. Everyone was whispering either about her or about the Cullen's.

Kayden was so caught up in her own thoughts that she hadn't realized that Emmett and Rosalie had taken a seat at the table that she was occupying by herself. When she looked up, she saw Alice had her arm tucked into Jasper's arm and they were in line for food and Alice's other brother, Edward she believed his name to be was right behind them. He looked agitated for some reason.

"Is everyone at this school nosy?" Rosalie asked once the other three had joined the table. She didn't sound mad or frustrated, just annoyed. Like she had dealt with it all before. Maybe at her last school in Washington.

"Most of them think everyone's business is theirs. They believe that they all know better. The favorite past time is how to annoy the latest target until they cry or start a fight," Kayden said rolling an apple between her hands.

"Who was the last victim?" Emmett asked, snatching the apple out of Kayden's hands.

Kayden just grinned for two reasons. The first that she had lost her only lunch, although truth be told her wasn't very hungry. And two was her answer to Emmett's question. "I was,"

"How come?" Jasper asked, he felt the pain of what was on her mind, but nothing else.

"Because I used to be the easiest target," she said. She wasn't willing to share what her secret was. It was personal and she didn't need to feel exposed.

"Who has History next?" Emmett asked.

"I do, but I'm not going," Kayden said, biting her bottom lip. She knew she shouldn't ditch that it would come back to bite her in the butt, she needed to know the truth and her mother wasn't about to tell her so it was up to her to find out what the hell was going on with her own family.

That was when Jasper felt a new wave of emotion come over the new girl Alice had been adamant that would be playing a part in their lives here. She felt shame, but what for? Shame that she was banned from sitting with the others? Or that she was sitting with the new kids that would later turn out to be outcasts that people envied. Some would even fear them, in a way it was good. To keep others away and to keep everyone from getting hurt, but it seemed that Kayden was already hurting, but it wasn't their presence that was hurting her, it was something that had come to pass, but not too long ago.

"Do you live in town?" Alice asked handing Kayden her apple that Rosalie took from Emmett and tossed to Alice.

"I used to, but not anymore," Kayden said. "But I prefer out of the town. Less chances I might hit one of them with my car. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I did that,"

"Hit someone with your car?" Edward asked speaking up for the first time.

"No, having one of their bodies damaging my car," Kayden smiled. "It's the one thing that I own with my name on it so no one can take it from me,"

Emmett let out a loud laugh. Even Rosalie who hadn't said much had a grin upon her face. It was new and fresh to have someone with a sense of humor. The one thing that all the Cullen's had on their minds was would it change if she learned what they truly were. It didn't bother Bella, but then again, she wasn't like most others. They didn't know Kayden well enough to know what she was like. But Alice was confident that she would be a permanent figure in their lives and that she knew about them. Even if they knew her visions weren't an exact science, Alice couldn't help but feel confident about her latest vision, her first of their new home and possible new friend.

Kayden had left right after lunch. She gave Alice her address and phone number so that Emmett could come over and give her a copy of the notes she knew she would be missing. At that moment, Kayden couldn't bring herself to care. She had something more important to do. Something she should have taken care of the moment she got back into town, before school started, but at the time she hadn't heard the rumors, but when she did all hell broke loose with her emotions.

After a lot of time listening to the gossipers and hacking into her father's bank account records from the school library computers, Kayden found exactly what she didn't want to see. Payments for a hotel, but that didn't mean anything, what did was the rent for an apartment that wasn't the one they were living in. It was a lot more expensive and a waste of money in her point of view. But she got what she needed, which was an address to this apartment that her father was paying the rent for.

Kayden sat in her brand new 2005 black Buick Lacrosse. She was parked in the lot that faced the apartment in question. She didn't have a camera; she was no PI. All she needed to see was what was truly happening in the apartment. She had a gut feeling her father was in there. She had brought her homework that she had to pass the time while she waited. She finished it within the first two hours. That left her with the time and music. She didn't know how long it would take for the ugly brown door to open, but Kayden didn't mind. She'd wait until she got the answers that plagued her for the last month.

Her cell phone vibrating in the passengers seat made Kayden look away from the door to pick up her phone. When she looked at the caller ID and had to calm her nerves when she saw it was her dad calling from his cell.

"Hey. Dad," she said.

"_I called the apartment, but you didn't pick up,"_

"Yeah, that might be because I'm not home,"

"_Where are you? It's almost six,"_

"I went to a friend's house. I'll be leaving soon. Are you going to be home soon?"

"_Yeah, I'll be leaving work in twenty. See you at home,"_

"Bye,"

Kayden watched as the door she had been staring at for so long opened. And that was when she finally saw the thing that broke her heart into a million pieces. Her father kissed a woman who wasn't her mother and she was very pregnant. After kissing the blonde haired woman, he leaned down and kissed her bulging stomach. She shouted words of love to him and he called back with words of his own love for her.

Kayden started her car and sped out of the parking lot. It was a lot worse then she thought it was. Her father was supposed to be a man of honor. A man loyal to his family. But he wasn't. He had traded his family in for a newer and younger version. Kayden didn't care where she was going; she just had to get that memory out of her head. It hurt to even think about it. This needs so much more suspense and angst

She had been so far away from the town that she hadn't known that it had rained. She eased off the gas pedal, but it did her no good. She was lucky no one was on the road, but that was where her luck ended. She lost control of her car and hit a tree on the outskirts of town. Her head hit the steering wheel hard. As well as here

Alice had no time to prevent her vision from happening. The girl that had befriended all the Cullen's on their first day at a new school. Edward wasn't keen on her, but that was to be expected, especially after the loss of Bella. The real surprise was the fact that Rosalie was nice and not as hostile as she had been with Bella. But after her vision Alice yelled for Rosalie in case Kayden's car needed a mechanic. But the two female vampires ran as fast as they could. It needs more of an urgency with your imagery

When they got there they were surprised to see how bad the Lacrosse was damaged. Kayden's breathing was shallow and she wasn't moving. Without having to say anything Alice opened the car door and took Kayden into her cold arms and Rosalie got into the car and headed to the Cullen household while Alice ran with her to get Carsilie. Alice hoped she wouldn't be too late with Kayden. Needs more worry about how she really is

For vampires that didn't sleep waiting for a human to wake was the longest time ever. It seemed as slow as ever. But they couldn't do much else. When Kayden's father called, Rosalie had answered and explained that Kayden was helping her and her sister Alice with some homework since they had just transferred to this school and Kayden had been so welcoming and after dinner Kayden had fallen asleep. After reassuring that Kayden would be in school and on time tomorrow Rosalie finally got off the phone and relayed the message to Alice who in turn told the rest of the household so they would have their stories straight. While Alice was telling everyone, Rosalie went back to working on Kayden's Buick. Emmett followed her this time in case he was needed for something.

"You shouldn't have brought her here," Edward told Alice in a dark tone. His eyes were solely focused on Kayden's form. Her breathing was very shallow; if you didn't have vampire vision then it looked as if she wasn't breathing at all.

"She is going to be very important in our lives," Alice reminded him for the umpteenth time. "I wasn't about to let her die,"

"You could have met Carlisle at the hospital," Edward told her.

"He wasn't working and then I would have even more explaining to do and we don't need that," Alice said, not allowing Edward to make her think she had done something wrong, she knew she made the right choice.

Edward wouldn't admit that she was right. He broke his stare of the human in Jasper and Alice's room. He couldn't be in the room any longer. So he left to be alone with his thought s and memories of the last human that he was close to. Bella. She never strayed far from his thoughts. And neither did finding James and ripping him into small pieces and burning the pieces.

He made his way to his room and started to pace around the room.

Edward was surprised by how quickly and wholly he fell in love with her. He would never stop loving her. He had thought about going to the Volturi and asking them toe end his life so he could possibly be with Bella again. But Alice stopped him. She didn't want to lose her brother. No one in the family wanted to lose him, so he didn't go. He brought out her hair tie a lot. He couldn't stop himself. It still smelled like her strawberry shampoo, as if she had just washed her hair that morning.

He had played the what if game for so long, but he never got very far. James was skilled as was his lover Victoria. But Edward made a promise to himself and to Bella. He promised that he would deal with James so that humans wouldn't know of the danger he could cause to them. All Edward wanted to do was to protect and love Bella for as long as they live. But that didn't help anything what so ever. It just made Edward feel worse about not protecting the one he proclaimed to love. For Edward it was the hardest thing he had to live with.

Alice watched the clock in her room tick, ever so slowly. She was alone in her room with Kayden on the bed. And that is how it was when Kayden finally opened her eyes. After that she shifted her legs. When she looked around, Kayden didn't know what to think. She didn't know what happened or ever where she was.

"I'm glad you're awake," came a perky voice from next to the bed. "It seemed like your head hit the steering wheel really hard,"

"Alice, right?" Kayden asked, unsure what the girl's name was, but then she remembered and hesitantly said. "Alice Cullen,"

"That's right," Alice said smiling at her.

"How did I get here?" Kayden asked before shooting off another one. "Where is here?" needs more panic

"This is the manor our family lives in," Alice explained. "Rosalie and I were out for driving around when we came across you and your car. I brought you back here and our father tended to you. He's a doctor. Rosalie towed your car back here and had been working on it. It will look as if you weren't in an accident and no one will have to know what happened,"

"What time is it?" Kayden asked.

"Almost eleven," a voice said from the door way.

It was not someone Kayden knew. But she felt as ease. She never felt such ease around strangers before. Her mother said that she was the same when she was growing up. That made Kayden happy to hear, for it was one thing less that she had in common with her father.

"Kayden Stone this is my mother, Esme Cullen," Alice said introducing them as Esme came into the room.

"It's nice to meet you Kayden," Esme said with a smile. The smile was simple enough, but what it held is what surprised Kayden the most. Esme's smile was filled with compassion and honesty and it seemed like it also had hope. Hope for what, Kayden wasn't sure, but it made her curious.

"You too, Mrs. Cullen," Kayden said, the manners her mother taught her kicked in. what's the deal with that?

"Please call me Esme," she told her gently as a man came in. Kayden assumed that this was Doctor Cullen. Alice's father. Both of Alice's parents looked young to have so many kids and in the same age group, too.

"I see you're awake," Carlisle said with a smile. "Alice hasn't left your side,"

"I didn't mean to cause an inconvenience," Kayden said as Carlisle checked her pupils and then her pulse rate.

"I am just glad to see that you're doing better,"

"Thank you Mr. Cullen," Kayden said.

"Please call me Carlisle," he insisted. "I think that Kayden could use some more rest, and I am sure that Alice can spare some clothes for you tomorrow. You should be fine for your classes tomorrow,"

"I do," Alice perked up at the mentioning of clothes. "I'll drive you to school if you don't feel up to it,"

"Uh, thanks," Kayden said as Dr. Cullen ushered the two female vampires out of the room so the human could recover.

By the next morning, Rosalie had finished Kayden's car. She even replaced the air bags. You couldn't tell that there was an accident at all. Rosalie had to admit to herself, this was her best work yet. But that didn't mean anything if their secret was in jeopardy.

A/N: Please let me know what you think!!!


	2. Chapter 2

Date: May 21, 2009

Title: The Cut Ribbon

Author: Soccer-Bitch

Chapter: 2 of?

Rating: M (for language and adult situations)

Warnings: Some Strong Language and sexual situations

Feedback: All opinions are welcome!

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight. I just own my characters. No money is being made off this.

Summary: With Bella dead by James' hand, The Cullen family feared for Edward's mental state. Deciding to move and make a new start elsewhere, they stumble across a girl, desperate for someone to believe in her.

A/N: Sorry for the lack of update and the shortness, but I will try and update more and I will try and make it longer, if anyone has ideas, feel free to let me know, I am very open to them.

Chapter Two

Kayden got out of Rosalie's BMW at school. The two sisters decided that it would be best if she didn't test her ability to drive so soon. She wore something that Alice had picked out from her own closet for her to wear. The jeans fit nicely; they were dark blue stretch with a few patches that seemed darker then the rest. The royal purple top had a scoop-neck with gathering at front, the long sleeves had no gathering until getting to the wrists, but closer to the bottom of the shirt there were ruching on the sides. The boots were actually from Rosalie's closet. Sleek black ankle boots with a heel of three and a half inches with a side zip. Kayden was also wearing the same coat as yesterday, but this time it was wide open.

With a small smile to Rosalie, Kayden walked with Alice to their English class. She knew that this day would be longer then she wanted it to be.

And she was right. Through out the day, Kayden couldn't stop second guessing herself through everything she did in school during the day. She couldn't keep her mind off what she saw. She knew that Rosalie had convinced her dad that she was just helping them and then fell asleep, but she wasn't sure if he actually bought it or if he was just going along with it. When she got back home, Kayden knew that she had to tell her mother. It wasn't right what her father did, but she wondered if she already knew and that's why she left. Or maybe there was another reason.

Secrets were never a good thing. That was one thing Kayden had learned the hard way. She also learned that her father was a liar and she wasn't sure how she would end up dealing with that. Sighing, Kayden looked at the clock on the wall of the classroom. It seemed to go ever so slow. She knew that she wouldn't be eating lunch today; she decided she would use the time to call her mom and tell her what she had found out. Even if she did eat, she wasn't sure if she could stomach any food without it coming back up. She was just saving herself from having that happen. As she sat her head down on her desk, she heard the door to the class open, looking up she saw it was one of the office aides.

"Ms. Stone, you are needed in the office." The teacher's baritone voice sounded. "Take your stuff. Homework is due tomorrow at the beginning of class."

With a look of confusion, Kayden placed her books inside her bag and gave Emmett a half smile before walking out of the class room. Emmett Cullen had surprised her by sitting next to her in history. It probably had a bit to do with the fact that Rosalie and Alice seemed to always be watching her.

Kayden wasn't stupid. Not by any stretch of the imagination, but she knew that she would never say anything about how odd it was that her car looked to be as if she had never crashed it to begin with. Things were happening this year, some things that were really bad and some that had yet to be determined. The Cullen's were the undetermined factor.

Walking down the fall way, she saw someone in the office that she didn't know. Walking through the door that was propped open, Kayden looked at the man she had met at the Cullen's house. Dr. Cullen. The father of the kids, not that he actually fathered them. He and his wife adopted them.

Looking at the attendance advisor she waited for her to let her speak since she just seemed in awe of Mr. Cullen. After thirty seconds, Kayden got tired of waiting. "Was there a reason I was pulled out of class?"

"Did your parents ever teach you manors?" the advisor asked, not liking the teenagers' attitude.

"Not when someone makes me leave class early and makes me wait around while trying to get cozy with someone,"

The advisor had the decency to blush and look away from Dr. Cullen.

"So was there a reason or was this just a fun game?"

"Dr. Cullen would like to talk to you,"

"Sorry, yes." Carlisle said looking at Kayden before him. He pointed to a seat for them go to. "Let's have a seat,"

Kayden made her way towards the seats. It reminded her of yesterday when she had met the Cullen's for the first time and things weren't as screwed up as they were now. It was hard to believe that it was only a day ago that it had happened. With a deep breath, Kayden sat down and looked into Dr. Cullen's amber eyes. "Look, I am fine, there is nothing wrong with me and I know that there is something weird going on with your family, but you don't have to worry about me telling anyone your secret, because I won't. I have other things to worry about right now," she told him in one breath.

"There is no secret, but thank you," Carlisle told her.

Although he denied any type of secret, it looked at if he was almost relieved in a way. If there hadn't been more important matters on her mind, she might have asked him about it. "So if you aren't here about any of that, what are you here about? And how did you get them to pull me out of class, cause usually only a parent can do that or a family member,"

"Your father is in the hospital," he finally said. "He's asking to see you. I have a waiver to take you to see him. He is my patient and since you are friends with Alice I thought that I should do this in person."

"What's wrong with him?" Kayden asked, masking her emotions.

"He was attacked. We have no idea what could have done this to him. He doesn't look very good. You should come to see him immediately,"

Nodding her head, Kayden agreed. "Okay," she whispered.

"Esme brought your car. I took her home a little bit ago, I thought you would prefer to drive yourself,"

"Thank you," Kayden said. She looked at the old carpet before looking into his eyes. "Is he going to survive?"

"It's hard to tell right now. But you should see him while he is conscience,"

Kayden grabbed her bag and walked briskly and left without getting a pass to get into her next class. Things were happening way too fast for her to understand why. First she found out about her father's affair and that he was having a secret family behind her back and now he gets attacked by something mysterious? Things just weren't adding up in her book.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Three days passed. Kayden's father wasn't any better. He hadn't been lucid since before she actually got to the hospital. It was odd knowing that she had the opportunity to say some the things that she so badly wanted to, but now she didn't have the courage to. She hadn't been home in four days. She spent all of her time at the hospital, Alice came by quite often; either to drop off homework or to bring food or clothes, but sometimes it was so she wasn't alone. Once Rosalie came with her. But she wasn't up to having a long conversation with anyone.

So that was how she came to be. A pile of clothes in the corner of her father's hospital room, her chair near his bed while she just watched him. She wondered if someone told his replacement family that he was in the hospital. Not knowing what he was doing or why he did it, made sitting at his bedside even harder. Pretending that everything was just like it always was, was much harder than it seemed.

"I hear talking sometimes helps with the hurt," came a soft male voice from the doorway. When she looked up, she had the look of surprise on her face as she saw Alice's brother, Edward standing there with a bag in his hand. "Alice got tied up and asked that I bring this to you,"

He walked over and handed her the bag.

"Thank you," Kayden said, softly. "You are really lucky ya know?"

"Why's that?" Edward asked, sitting on the futon that was folded up into a lounge chair.

Kayden just looked at him for a few seconds before answering him. "You have a family and you know that they are all okay. They aren't lying about where they are or who they are with. You know you can trust them. It seems that is taken for granted these days,"

"Your trust?"

"Not just mine, but trust in general. When you love someone, don't you think that if you love someone and I mean really love them, you should let them know everything there is to know about you and that you shouldn't hide something that could drive them away if they found out on their own?"

"You speak of your father?" Edward asked, looking at the pale man on the bed hooked up to machines.

"He's been lying to me and I don't know how long it's been going on for. I do know its been months at least," she sighed. "I'm sorry for ranting about this. You probably think I am some weirdo or something,"

Kayden let out small laugh.

"I was in love once," he spoke up. He didn't know why, but he did. "She knew my deepest and darkest secrets."

"What happened to her?"

Edward looked at her questioningly. "What makes you think something happened to her?"

"Well you said she knew, so past tense usually means something happened to her. And by the way the mood just changed it is probably something bad and it hurts to talk about it,"

"She died." Edward said. "There was nothing I could do to save her. Not even Carlisle could help her."

"I'm sorry." Kayden told him in earnest. "It must be really hard for you to go through that,"

"Very," Edward said before he shot up and said. "I have to go."

He was gone by the time she had the chance to say anything. Edward had opened up about something and she didn't know why. He didn't seem that fond of her. Alice was the one she had the most contact with, but Edward made her curious. He was hiding something and it had to deal with the death of the girl he loved.


End file.
